By Jessica Mathews/News@whmi.com


A local lawmaker held his in-district office hours using Zoom in an effort to remain accessible to his constituents during the governor’s stay at home order.

Republican State Representative Hank Vaupel of Fowlerville hosted the virtual event that covered various topics related to CVOID-19, testing, unemployment and the Governor’s executive orders. During the virtual event, Vaupel was also joined by Unemployment Insurance Agency Liaison Stephanie Glidden, Livingston County Health Department Director Dianne McCormick and Medical Director Juan Marquez.

Vaupel said there was a lot of activity in Lansing on Friday. He said the Legislature established an oversight committee that will be looking into what the executive orders have done and how they affect Michigan. The committee will contain two House Democratic members, three House Republicans, two Democratic senators and three Republican senators, giving the GOP a 6-4 edge that recognizes their majority. House Democrats have referred to the session, which was initiated by GOP leaders, as a "publicity stunt" and called the oversight committee a "sham". Vaupel said the object is to get the state back working, determine who can and can’t work safely, and what guidelines to follow.

The Senate meanwhile passed legislation that would provide would provide for greater legislative oversight of the governor’s powers during a state of emergency. Two laws give the governor the ability to declare and act during states of emergency or disaster: the Emergency Powers of the Governor Act of 1945 and the Emergency Management Act of 1976. SB 857 would repeal the 1945 law and SB 858 would amend the 1976 law to only allow declarations of disaster or emergency to last 14 days before requiring legislative approval, instead of the current 28 days.

Vaupel explained what will happen as May 15th nears and the Legislature continues negotiating with the governor. If there is a loosening of some of the regulations and perhaps some regionalization, Vaupel said there is the possibility of the Legislature extending the emergency order for another 15 days, possibly two weeks, but not longer than that. If not, then Vaupel said the governor would probably issue a new order and then it would go to court. Gov. Whitmer's spokeswoman Tiffany Brown condemned the Legislature's moves as “dangerous partisan games.”

Various questions were directed at the local health department. It was noted that prioritization for testing has been expanded but there is still a shortage. McCormick commented the local department has been keeping very busy with contact tracing. It was also relayed that the county has been seeing lower levels of positive cases. Questions from participants centered on COVID testing in the community but also on antibody testing and the availability of that. Dr. Marquez said some things to think about include does the test work and actually measure what it’s supposed to. Marquez said there are still strong concerns about the validity of the test - meaning does it measure what it’s supposed to, does it answer the question they’re trying to solve if someone has antibodies, and are they potentially immune to COVID-19. Marquez stressed those answers are still not clear. He says they think that’s the case but there is still not enough research to definitively prove it. Marquez went on to say the third part is that if the antibody test does work and shows immunity, then how long does immunity last? He says if a test showed someone was exposed in the past, they still don’t know how long that person would potentially be immune.

Marquez said at this point, all of the antibody tests are in very much research mode, which is good for certain things. He said he would not use it for individual diagnostics, or assuming that if a test comes back positive, that someone will either have been exposed, are immune or could safely go back to work. Marquez said in a diagnostic sense, he would not use the antibody test currently – adding the goal is at some point but not now. Marquez added the antibody test has been very good for public health surveillance, so even though on an individual level it’s not diagnostic; on a population level it is quite useful to see some areas most affected by COVID-19. In that sense, Marquez says it provides a lot of good value. He said in the future, they hope the validity of the test can be proved and that it reflects true immunity so they’ll have a better sense of how long the immunity will last. Meanwhile, a list of locations for testing and different criteria can be found online at www.livgov.com. That link is provided. The Michigan coronavirus website also has a testing site finder.